Division I Men

Navy Moves to 2-0, Downs Detroit Mercy

from press release

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Junior long pole Pat
Kiernan (Ridgewood, N.J.) and senior goalkeeper Nolan Hickey
(Garden City, N.Y.) anchored a stout defensive effort that
surrendered just three goals in the first three quarters of play,
as Navy scored an 11-7 victory over Detroit Friday evening at
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. It's the first time Navy has
gotten off to a 2-0 start since 2009 when the Mids beat VMI (13-5)
and Ohio State (8-6).

"We had a big defensive effort tonight and Nolan made some big
saves for us," said second-year Navy head coach Rick Sowell. "I
felt like our defense could match up pretty well against their
attack and we did a nice job of containing them."

Detroit took a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the game when senior
defenseman Jamie Hebden intercepted a Sam Jones (Annapolis, Md.)
pass and ran the length of the field before finding junior
attackman Shayne Adams for the first of his game-high four
goals.

Navy finally tied it up just before the quarter break when Jones
picked off Detroit goalkeeper Chris Kelly right in front of
Detroit's goal and Kelly then grabbed hold of Navy junior attackman
Tucker Hull (Charlotte, N.C.). The official whistled Kelly for the
hold and Jones quickly took the ball and fed Hull on the crease
with 1:20 to go in the quarter.

The Mids scored the first two goals of the second quarter,
including a beauty by sophomore midfielder Gabe Voumard (Cape May,
N.J.), who fired off a shot running left to right from 12 yards out
to give the Mids a 3-1 advantage.

Detroit cut the lead to one, 3-2, when redshirt freshman Damien
Hicks won the faceoff following Voumard's goal and took it straight
to the goal.

Navy, however, put together a run scoring three goals in two
minutes and 27 seconds, including a perfectly-executed play with
junior attackman Austin Heneveld (East Hampton, N.Y.) playing
behind the goal and finding Hull who cut up the middle and was left
untouched. The run was capped by junior Sean Price's (Millersville,
Md.) second goal of the year, giving the Mids a 6-2 lead at
intermission.

The Mids scored just 37 seconds into the second half when Hull
punched in his third goal of the game on a shot that Kelly never
saw. With nearly no angle, Hull fired the shot from the left side,
leaving Kelly stunned.

Freshman Patrick Keena (Vienna, Va.) gave Navy an 8-2 lead when
he took a pass from junior middie Erik Hoffstadt (Dover, Del.) and
sent his side-winder in on an extra-man play.

After being held scoreless for nearly 19 minutes, Detroit
finally got on the scoreboard as Alex Maini's cross-the-field pass
was deflected by Hickey into the stick of Adams who was standing at
the crease and scored his second of the evening.

The Mids scored three of the next four goals, including a
man-down goal by Kiernan to give Navy 11-1 advantage with 8:16 to
go in the game. It's the second straight game Navy has scored a
man-down goal and marked the first time since 2006 that Navy has
scored two man-down goals in a season.

The Titans, however, mounted a run of their own scoring three
goals over the next three minutes, including back-to-back strikes
by Maini and sophomore midfielder Mike Birney less than a minute
apart. The rally would fall short as neither team scored over the
final 4:30.

Hull paced Navy with his 10th-career hat trick, while his
three-assist effort on the night pushed his career total to 43 and
now stands tied for 20th all-time on the Mids assists list. Eight
different players accounted for the remaining eight goals,
including Kiernan who is the nation's seventh-leading active
scoring defenseman with 12-career points on nine goals and three
assists. It was Kiernan's first goal of the 2013 campaign.
Additionally, Kiernan, who was named the Patriot League Defensive
Player of the Week this past Monday, turned in a career-high 11
ground balls and forced two turnovers.

"Pat Kiernan is special," added Sowell. "He's a tremendous
defender and has a nose for the ball. Not only can he pick up the
ball, he manages to battle sometimes with three or four guys draped
all over him."

Hickey, meanwhile, made a career-high seven saves for the
Midshipmen, including three doorstop saves in the second
quarter.

"Nolan played unbelievable tonight," said Kiernan. "He was able
to make some big saves and we just built off of that."

Navy's faceoff game continues to be sufficient as senior Evan
McGoogan (Cranberry Township, Pa.) had one of his best games in a
Navy uniform, winning 10 of the 15 draws he took, while rookie Sean
Reilly (Doylestown, Pa.), who was 13 for 18 last weekend against
VMI, won two of his five faceoffs against the Titans.

"Evan pretty much did everything from the x tonight and made it
easier for the wings for sure," said Kiernan. "He played a great
game."

Adams led the way for Detroit with five points on four goals and
one assist, while Kelly turned in 11 saves and gave up all 11
goals.

"Wins are hard to come by in this sport, so I think we are going
to enjoy our second win of the season and then get back to work on
Sunday."

The Midshipmen will be back in action on Tuesday afternoon when
they travel to Connecticut to battle 16th-ranked Fairfield. Game
time is set for 3:00 pm. The game will not be available on radio,
however, an audio broadcast will be carried live on Navy All-Access
with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller calling the action.